How to Build a Client Base of Property Opportunity
As a broker or an agent in commercial property today you will have plenty of clients and prospects to connect with frequently and regularly if you look deeply and directly at your market place. Your client base should be at the center of your business activities so that you can drive transactions and listings at the right time and in the right way. Get involved with your property market.
(N.B. these ideas are also sent out to regularly to our friends in Commercial Real Estate Online Snapshot to help amplify brokerage results…. Get your access here)
What’s happening?
Recognize that all of your clients will have unique circumstances relating to property ownership and or occupation. Go deeper into the property activities of your clients so that you can see the challenges that they face and the opportunities that they should take. Show them how they can move forward when it comes to occupancy, ownership, and redevelopment. Be the solution that they need.
One fact should be remembered here. The clients that you choose to work with over time should be property relative and of reasonable value when it comes to repeat business and transaction size. The work that you put into moving a property through any sales or leasing activity is usually significant.
The size and type of the transaction that you create and nurture, will dictate the commission outcomes that you achieve. Focus on the end result that you want to achieve; focus on quality properties of reasonable size and precinct location. In that way you will optimize the results that you realize.
Be a specialist in local property
Ordinary properties can waste a lot of your precious time and energy. It is better to be a specialist in larger and higher quality properties, than it is to be an agent working on just about anything that come your way. Protect your time as a valuable resource in your professional business career.
Here are some specific rules relating to the growth of your client list and database over time:
- Understand the property locations that will be of interest and attraction to the customers that you serve. Focus into those locations as you identify the property owners and the business proprietors. It is better to work a smaller area comprehensively, than a larger area randomly. You will find considerably more opportunity through small area research and coverage.
- Split your client list into different types of activity and most particularly sales, leasing, and property management. You can then create subsets of opportunity and categories of people including tenants, business owners, investors, property developers, landlords, and industry professionals. There are many relationships to be struck and nurtured through those categories of people.
- Create a special category of activity for VIP clients and prospects. They should get extra attention and focus; given that they have some identified opportunity that you can work on in the immediate future.
- Determine the ideal profile for a typical and targeted client that you should work with over the long term. Perhaps you are an expert in property development or tenancy service; perhaps you have other special skills and services to use in your client and prospect contact. Look at your relevance to the VIP clients and customers that you can service. There are many different client and prospect categories to consider, and some will be more valuable than others when it comes to your skills and local property knowledge. Be selective in who you work for.
Simplify your client list and your client contact systems. Engage with your clients and prospects regularly, and in a relevant way. Provide local information and feedback when it comes to property occupancy, ownership, and opportunity. The best agents and brokers today are experts when it comes to client engagement and ongoing contact. They put their database at the centre of their business activities.
(N.B. these ideas are also sent out to regularly to our friends in Commercial Real Estate Online Snapshot to help amplify brokerage results…. Get your access here)
